Boniu was sick and Confucius went to visit him.
Confucius held Boniu’s hand through the window and said, “We’re going to lose him. It must be fate that a man like this is dying and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Fate
9.1
Confucius rarely spoke of profit, fate, or humaneness.
9.9
Confucius said, “The phoenix hasn’t come and the river hasn’t produced its chart. It’s all over for me, isn’t it?”
11.19
Confucius said, “Yan Hui is nearly there—and he is almost always broke.
“Zigong is not wealthy by fate, but he’s gone into business, and his speculations are almost always right on target.”
12.5
Sima Niu was in distress. He said, “Everyone has brothers! I alone have none!”
Zixia said, “I have heard a proverb:
‘Life and death are up to fate,
Wealth and honors are up to Heaven.’
“Because the noble person behaves with reverence and tries to be free of error, is courteous to others and behaves with ritual correctness, all within the Four Seas are his brothers. How can a noble person worry about not having brothers?”
14.36
Gongbo Liao slandered Zilu to the Jisun family.
Zifu Jingbo told Confucius about it, saying, “The Jisuns have been led astray by Gongbo Liao, but I have the power to drag his corpse out into the marketplace.”
Confucius replied, “It’s up to fate if the Way prevails or is cast aside. What can Gongbo Liao do about fate?”
20.3
Confucius said, “If you don’t understand fate, you can’t be a noble person. If you don’t understand ritual, you can’t take your stand. If you don’t understand language, you won’t be able to assess the others’ characters.”